The SEO impact of Responsive Design

What is Responsive web design?

You might be asking yourself, “what the hell is this responsive web design?!”. Responsive web design is the term given to a certain way that a website is designed and built. Back in the day, the accustomed way for you to expose your online presence to as many people as possible, would be to create multiple versions of your website. One for PC and the other for mobile phones. A website that has a responsive web design, can adapt to any platform or screen size. Menu’s are organised and images are automatically re-sized. Microsoft is a brilliant example of a website that uses responsive design.

How does responsive web design impact SEO?

Right, so you know what responsive web design is. Let’s get down to the nitty gritty and talk about the effects on Search Engine Optimisation.

I would like to be as fair as possible when I weigh the pro’s and con’s but to be totally honest, the pro’s definitely out-weigh the con’s. Let’s start with the Pro’s:

More user friendly

When a visitor lands on your website, it is safe to assume everything is in working order. No broken navigation or misplaced images. Everything pops into place, leaving a clean, easy to use website.

Link building is easier

When you are building your link profile, your focus will be in a single place. Remember that your mobi site is now your main site as well. Link building will become easier to manage when you don’t have to worry about a secondary mobi site.

Decreased bounce rate

If you have a website that is not tablet or iPad friendly, the bounce rate from those visits will generally be high. With a responsive website design, and a single multi platform landing page for your visitors, you will see a decreased bounce rate from these visitors.

Now let’s get down to the Con’s…

Set up time and expense

Shifting to a responsive design is a great task. It takes considerable more effort and time to implement. The designers and the developers are tasked with creating a smooth user experience.

Larger pages

This is a huge topic of discussion at the moment. Are the large pages worth the risk? Both for Google and visitor usability.

This will be up to you to decide.

Ceri is the Sales and Marketing Director at Talooma. Over about 15 years, Ceri has developed his passion for meeting people and selling, during which time he has mastered the art of networking and consulting. Ceri has enjoyed watching the Internet industry grow over the past 10 years in South Africa and has been very fortunate to have been a part of it.